There are plenty of places to get a great steak in London but when an occasion calls for a little more luxury, it has to be wagyu beef. Once a rare Japanese product, wagyu is now not an unfamiliar sight on menus – you even see burger joints using it – but if you really want to taste the quality of the meat, these are the restaurants to go to.
Kobe beef, the best of all wagyu breeds, is the focus at this traditional Japanese restaurant within the Ham Yard Hotel and they take it very seriously indeed, importing the whole cow and butchering in-house. That means you can try a variety of cuts in small portions when you dine here; it comes as part of a bento box or over rice with yakitori sauce at lunch, in a variety of courses on the omakase dinner menus or as a teppanyaki steak on the a la carte menu. With the five-course dinner costing £85, it’s not as astronomically expensive as you might think either.
Given its location 39 floors up with stunning views over London, Sushisamba was never going to be a restaurant that does things by halves. As well as an extensive sushi and sashimi offering, the high-end Japanese-Peruvian fusion menu features kobe churrasco with ribeye, fillet and chorizo, which comes in at a cool £337 but if you have cash to burn or have recently won the lottery, they also offer a 1kg kobe ishiyaki for £1000. You have to pre-order this one in advance, which also give yourself time to think whether you really want it or not.
Mayfair’s Tokimeite specialises in kaiseki, the refined form of traditional Japanese dining, so you can expect to see lots of luxury ingredients on show, including wagyu beef. Michelin-starred chef Yoshihiro Murata partnered with the Japanese agricultural co-operative Zen-Noh on the restaurant, so the meal served here is top quality. It comes in many forms too; wagyu tartare with ponzu and aubergine sauce, wagyu hotpot, wagyu sashimi and wagyu steaks, including teriyaki rump and Hida chuck roll, the priciest at £100 for 100g.
CUT at 45 Park Lane is the European outpost of the CUT steakhouses created by legendary chef Wolfgang Puck. Just like at the original restaurant in Beverly Hills, the menu is a celebration of the best fish and meat, including wagyu from Idaho, Queensland Australia and Kyushu Prefecture in Japan. You can have the beef grilled and adorned with various sides and sauces but in a reflection of the contemporary style of cookery at CUT, wagyu also comes in a burger, in Asian style sashimi and as Indian spiced short ribs, which are more accessible ways to eat this esteemed meat.
The menu at Nobu London Old Park Lane, the first Nobu to open in the capital, is extensive, made up of a mix of classic dishes that draw on chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s sushi training and new dishes with South American influences, so wagyu isn’t the focus. However, there are still opportunities to indulge, like wagyu gyoza with spicy ponzu and wagyu sukiyaki with onsen tamago. You can also choose to have grade A5 wagyu, priced per 75g, as tataki, steak, tobanyaki or tacos should you want to branch out from their superb sushi.
M Grill really is a meat lover’s paradise as it showcases exceptional steaks from around the world – US prime fillet, Argentine rump, ribeye from Botswana, hanger from Normandy and both Blackmore wagyu from Australia and grade A5 Kobe from Japan, with the sister restaurant in Victoria also serving Highland wagyu from Scotland. You don’t have to limit yourself to just one to their one-kilo international steak board, although if you want to add 100g of Kobe it’ll almost double the price of the whole thing. Best to round up a few friends to share the load.
